CTU calls for fairer tax cuts

The Council of Trade Unions is calling on National to re-jig its tax package to give it more balance. And fair enough too – despite the media narrative about National’s ‘moderate’, ‘centrist’ policies the figures show its tax package is actually incredibly regressive.

In fact, you could argue it’s been explicitly designed to divert money out of the pockets of working families and into the pockets of the already very wealthy.

According to the CTU’s economist Peter Conway:

‘under the Government’s proposals a worker on $20,000 a year will pay $300 a year more tax in 2010 than what is set out in current legislation whereas someone on $500,000 a year will pay $9,202 less tax. This is unfair’.

‘A two-child low income family where the parents work 50 hours a week to earn $50,000 will also pay more tax of around $300 a year by 2010 whereas the high income family earning $120,000 in the same circumstances will pay $900 a year less tax.’

If National really were the moderate, sensible centrists the media keep telling us they are then they might consider the CTU’s advice and introduce fairer, more progressive tax cuts like Gordon Brown is in the UK. Somehow, I don’t see that happening.

47 comments on “CTU calls for fairer tax cuts”

Tane, that common argument is completely unsound. Tax cuts will always result in a greater sum going back to the higher earners than the lower earners. Clearly because they pay more in the first place (both in percentage and actual sum) they will get more back. [I’m getting sick of this lie. There’s is no reason a tax cut must give more to the wealthy. For example, a tax-free bracket of $5000 would give the same cut in dollar terms to all taxpayers (except those on less than $5000), which is a lower % cut to those on higher incomes. SP]

If you want the higher earners to get the same or less back as lower earners during tax cuts then how about some fairness on your part and promote that higher earners pay the same or less than lower earners during times of tax increases?

Talk about wanting to have your cake and eat it too (the epitome of unfairness) …

Why are you (or anybody) surprised? Any tax cut will always benefit the better off and do little or nothing for those who actually need the increased income. This may be alleviated to some degree if those on higher incomes had their taxes increased while those on lower incomes had theirs decreased.

If the CTU and their associated unions actually want tax reform then they should be getting their members onto contract and off wages. The government will then be forced to fix the present broken system as the tax take from income taxes falls by 50% or more.

National campaigned during the election on its tax cut plan. The CTU ran a campaign, during the election, against National and its tax cut plans. National won the election. Amid all the shrieks and cries of broken promises in the past, why should National change a policy it clearly signalled before the election?

I know Michael Cullen’s catch-phrase has been overused already, but there seem to be a lot of people about who were on the losing side of the election, who want to relitigate a lot of points that the public clearly expressed its view about.

Draco:If the CTU and their associated unions actually want tax reform then they should be getting their members onto contract and off wages. The government will then be forced to fix the present broken system as the tax take from income taxes falls by 50% or more.

How will removing the legal protections of the employment relationship by turning workers into contractors help increase their bargaining power?

Vto:

Tax cuts will always result in a greater sum going back to the higher earners than the lower earners.

Well, a lot depends on how you do them. National has designed its tax package to give a very high proportion of the cash to people on high incomes at the expense of people on low-middle incomes. They’ve primarily done this through cutting the top tax rate and cancelling the cuts to the bottom tax rate. Tax packages don’t have to be designed that way.

Noted Tane. Politically – is this possibly the swing to the roundabout of the 39c rate increase back in ’99? After all over time in the bigger picture most things tend to balance out to about the middle of what the general populace desires…

Similar to the probable pending reversal of the greater powers bestowed on local govt also by Clark several years ago…

vto – National and ACT are saying they’re looking at a medium-term goal of 30% as the top rate. I imagine that “medium-term goal” will shift towards 25%, then 20% and downwards the closer they get to it.

I’m not sure there’s a huge popular clamour to cut the 39% bracket. Certainly middle-income Kiwis want tax cuts if there’s perceived to be no trade-off in public services, but the pressure around the 39% bracket seems to me to have come exclusively from the well-off folks in the press gallery, the business sector and the right wing of the blogosphere.

Tane, the bottom 21% of income-earners pay just 1% of income tax. You can’t give people a tax cut unless they are paying tax. What I suspect you’re talking about is not a tax cut, but a welfare transfer payment, of which we’ve had several in the past nine years. New Zealanders this year voted for tax cuts, not for increased welfare.

Tim, I’m suggesting if you’re going to be handing out tax cuts then the people at the bottom should take priority. Of course, as I’ve written in the past I think the way to improve the position of those at the bottom is to increase wages – not something National has the best record on. Your comment shows the folly, and dishonesty, of using tax cuts as a way to emancipate the poor.

If all tax rates on work and income can be reduced then that is a fantastic thing (provided the holy grail of ‘public’ services remain as the public desires). Bring them from, what is it, 15 to 39c down to 5 to 20c.

Why on earth we tax the work and income dollar instead of evils, or lesser necessities, such as the discretionary spending dollar or, say, sloth I do not know.

I wonder if sloth could be taxed?? Better than taxing work surely. I guess the problem with sloth is that there is nothing to tax.

“A two-child low income family where the parents work 50 hours a week to earn $50,000 will also pay more tax of around $300 a year by 2010 whereas the high income family earning $120,000 in the same circumstances will pay $900 a year less tax.’

So in your example how much tax does the low income family pay compared to the high income family (and I mean actual amount paid in dollars)? Then how about factoring in working for families payments how much are we looking at then?

Selective use of statistics, Tane. Tax cuts will always appear to favour the rich if you compare the amounts “saved” (rather than the amounts actually paid by each taxpayer). It’s a mathematical certainty if the upper earners pay most of the tax to start with (which the do).

What are you arguing – that tax cuts are only fair if the absolute amount “saved” by someone on $20,000 per annum is greater than or equal to the absolute amount saved by someone on $1,000,000 a year?

Speaking about the amounts “saved”, you’ve told us: “Under National’s tax plan 40% of the cash goes to the top 10% of income earners”.

Why not also tell us a bit about tax paid: – What % of the overall income tax take is paid by the top 10% of income earners? – What the per head average tax paid is for the top 10% of income earners?

Then compare these stats with what everyone else pays – after all, everyone rich or poor receives essentially the same “services” from the government.

Imagine the government discovered a gigantic oil well and decided to cut everyone’s tax in half. You could write pretty much the same article about how the poor would be unfairly treated by such a move.

Jimbo, the default position is the status quo. When we look at any policy we have to ask, “who does this particular policy benefit, and who does it disadvantage?”

The fact is National’s tax cuts will take money off low-middle income families and give it to the rich. They deliberately chose to cancel the cuts to the bottom tax rate and instead cut the 39 cent bracket – there’s no getting around that.

All you’ve done is point out that we have a welfare state where wealth is (to put a complex system very crudely) redistributed from the wealthy to the poor. So what?

That doesn’t change the fact that National’s tax cuts are incredibly regressive and designed to enrich the wealthy at the expense of the poor.

Based on tax paid in this financial year if you have 2 children and earn $50,000 you will pay $11,370.00 in income tax and receive $155 x 52 (=$8060) in working for family rebate, that is total tax paid of $3310 or $64 per week.

However if you earn $120,000 with 2 children you will pay $38,070.00 in income tax and receive no working for family rebate. That is $732 per week of tax paid.

So the family on $120,000 pay 11 times more tax than the family on $50,000 which in dollar terms is $34,760 more.

RocketBoy, all that shows is that tax cuts are a very ineffective way to increase the incomes of low-middle income families as they already pay very little tax. It also puts a lie to the Right’s “overtaxation” line.

Seems to me all National and ACT’s screaming about tax cuts was a sham to persuade low-middle income families to support large tax reductions for the rich.

Far better to cut the bottom rate where necessary, target further tax cuts to programmes like Working for Families and lift incomes by increasing wages. Like I said in the post, the fairer thing to do is follow Gordon Brown and make the tax system more rather than less progressive.

Tim Ellis: Amid all the shrieks and cries of broken promises in the past, why should National change a policy it clearly signalled before the election?

Is it your position Tim that National should keep all it’s pre election promises? Or just this one?

I’ve been depressed at how openly cynical The Herald has been in acknowledging that some of National and ACT’s (nudge nudge wink wink) “promises” were just an election line, and that they shouldn’t be kept. I think this is disgusting. On Education:

Perhaps understandably, the National Party chose to campaign with a policy of retaining the fee maxima cap, which places a maximum on what universities can charge on top of the Government’s subsidy for each course. Labour was making a strong pitch for the student vote, highlighted by its proposal to phase in a universal allowance. Any pledge to abolish the fee cap would provide it with the added ammunition of potentially higher student fees.

In such circumstances, diffidence held an obvious attraction, even if that policy carries egalitarianism to a doleful extreme.

The “three strikes and you’re out” penal policy was a good line in an election pitch but unless its application is narrowed in the small print of the policy it would require…

So Tim, I think you should be prepared to defend National’s tax plans on their “merits” (hah!) – not on the fact that they were “promises”. Other “promises” are going to be conveniently swept under the carpet (with The Herald, for shame, as a willing accomplice to the crime).

roger nomeage and SP (above) my point should have been explained more. I was referring to an across the board rate cut type thing. Of course a tax free bracket at the bottom will have a different effect. My bad.

Which aint a bad idea. I think what pisses higher earners off is when there is a significant difference between higher and lower earners – because it is not fair. Everyone should contribute (extremes aside).

“So the family on $120,000 pay 11 times more tax than the family on $50,000 which in dollar terms is $34,760 more.”

So much for the argument that wealth envy is a domain of the left. If we take your example a little further, the family with one earner earning $120,000 receives $1515.75 per week, whereas the family with one earner earning $50,000 brings in $897.88 per week.

It would also be interesting to note how many single earners actually earn above $50,000 that don’t have some form of tertiary qualification, 80% of whom study currently find it necessary to borrow in order to live whilst studying, which is set off at 10c in every dollar earnt over $18,000 approx. Include Kiwisaver as well, and you leave Earner #2 another $100 per week worse off.

Now to provide for a mortgage and a family on an income much lower than $800 in the hand per week, including $300 – $500 of mortgage payments, and you will see it becomes increasingly difficult.

How will removing the legal protections of the employment relationship by turning workers into contractors help increase their bargaining power?

Well, there’s two aspects here:

1.) There are legal protections in law for contractors but they tend to be expensive. This doesn’t seem to change much as most workers can’t afford the legal fees for redress anyway (my nephew just got cheated out of about 30 hours pay but it’s not worth hiring a lawyer to do anything about it). This would certainly be one benefit of belonging to a union. I’m also certain that there was at least one MP that wanted better protections for contracting workers and I’m sure the unions could lobby the government for such protections as well.

2.) There are the protections of belonging to the union which is something you’ve pointed out before and no where did I mention leaving the union.

My point was that the present taxation system is broken and that the unions would be better off showing that than lobbying for better tax cuts.

“Which aint a bad idea. I think what pisses higher earners off is when there is a significant difference between higher and lower earners – because it is not fair. Everyone should contribute”

Oh, ok. So someone who works 50 hours a week in a job and already struggles to buy their weekly “block of plain cheese” for the kids should be denied that “privilege”, so some affluent fifty-something person can afford to have a farrari rather than a merc? nah – no sale bud.

Draco, contract work is okay if you’re highly skilled labour in a time of a skills shortage, but even then it can be incredibly unstable. For most workers it means the removal of even the basic protections they already have.

In the real world the kind of employment relationship you’re suggesting is a tool used by employers to undermine the power of workers, cut their wages and conditions and open up the ability to fire at will. That’s why casualised workers are clamouring to get status as employees.

Any union that suggested workers cast aside their hard-fought rights to become contractors would be grossly irresponsible, and would probably laughed at by its members.

Why should National change its policy to suit a group of people who vote Labour anyway? Labour targeted “rich pricks” for the past nine years to suit its support base and now National is looking after its voters.

You don’t want to hear that of course but along with “Prime Minister John Key” and “National-led Government” that’s one of the things you’ll have to come to terms with.

I don’t necessarily like it, but I can accept that. Now if the media can also accept it and stop pretending National is moderate, centrist and leading some kind of government of national unity then I’ll be happy.

National also targeted for support people who thought of themselves as ‘middle income’ ($35-60k), an section that Labour mismanaged while failing to shore up support from the rest.

If Labour and the Greens are to win the next election, they’ll have to win back the confidence of this sector of the electorate. A negative campaign lost them, and negative campaigning is highly unlikely to get them back.

Firstly, I’m not quite sure what your first point about education is. National campaigned on maintaining the student fee maxima cap. The VCs Committee wants the student allowances policy changed and the money chanelled to universities. Anne Tolley has said it isn’t going to happen. I don’t see how that’s a broken policy.

Of course in the process of forming multi-party coalitions, there are trade offs. But there are two different scenarios here: expectations of what a minor party should achieve, and expectations of what a major party should achieve. Minor parties can promise what they like. Jim Anderton promised free dental care. At what cost? I’ve no idea. Half a billion maybe. Act promised three strikes. Probably the same sort of cost. Greens campaigned for various things that Labour wouldn’t do.

Small parties have the luxury of being able to make extravagant statements of position because they don’t have to deliver and are only judged on the achievements they deliver. Winston Peters wanted to cut immigration to the bone. He never achieved it. But what he did achieve was the gold card, increased super, and primary healthcare to under 6s. He also got increased funding for racing and evidently was popular among some elements of the fishing industry. He was a master of getting three or four achievements out of every government he worked with.

Likewise look at the Greens. They state clearly what they’d like to see in an ideal world where they’re actually the government, but the real world lets them off the hook by attributing their successes–the anti-smacking legislation, housing insulation, etc. I don’t know why you would hold a different measure to Act.

The major party in government doesn’t have the luxury of promising things it can’t deliver on. I think most people would believe that if National is in power, then National would control economic policy, social policy, foreign policy. At the margins there might be some influence from minor parties, but just as Labour would not radically change the tax structure to appease the greens, it’s poppycock to think that Act is going to force National on some radical right-wing economic policy. If there is nothing for middle New Zealand to fear from the Greens involvement in a Labour-led government, then there’s just as little to fear from Act’s involvement in a National-led government.

Next, you ask me to defend National’s tax policy. I say again, it’s what the public voted for, in the expectation National would deliver it. I don’t think many Act voters really thought that by having Rodney and Roger Douglas in Parliament they would be able to force National’s hand to implement a right-wing agenda, any more than Green voters would have the same aspirations about Jeanette Fitzsimons.

The bottom 21% of New Zealand income earners pay just 1% of the tax. That’s $248 million a year. The bottom 47% pay just 9% of the tax. If there are going to be tax cuts, it’s very difficult to lower it beyond zero. Do you think it’s morally right for so many people to be paying no tax at all?

I suspect that a lot of the antagonism towards reducing top tax rates is much more about the politics of envy than anything else. But let’s have a discussion about fairness. The top 10% of taxpayers happen to pay 46% of income tax, yet absorb far less than 46%, or even 10%, of government services. Is that fair? Is it fair that the bottom 47% pay 9%, yet absorb far more than 47%, let alone 9%, of government services? If it is unfair that 40% of the tax cuts go to 10% of the income earners? I don’t see the unfairness argument. I can see the political expediency in some people using it, but I think we abandoned the principle of fairness in tax at about the time when we introduced PAYE.

Personally, I’m more concerned about economic efficiency. If our tax rates are seriously out of whack with our nearest labour market competitor, and it is a contributing factor to lower incomes and economic productivity then I think it’s sensible to make some moves to address it.

I think we abandoned the principle of fairness in tax at about the time when we introduced PAYE

and roger nome says:

someone who works 50 hours a week in a job and already struggles to buy their weekly “block of plain cheese’ for the kids should be denied that “privilege’, so some affluent fifty-something person can afford to have a farrari rather than a merc? nah – no sale bud.

I doubt many people would see that as fair. But I also find unfair the fact that if I’m earning, for argument’s sake, $50,000 and choose to spend it on cheese and meat and warm clothes for the kids and my neighbour on $50,000 spends his on booze, ciggies and the TAB while his kids go hungry, we pay exactly the same tax.

Similarly if I’m on $120,000 and choose to use some of that to invest it responsibly in NZ companies – providing capital to create jobs – and my neighbour on $120,000 blows his on a Maserati, we pay the same tax on that income.

Taxation can be a very subtle instrument, encouraging certain behaviours and discouraging others – especially when it’s applied to consumption. One instance that comes to mind immediately is Australia’s “luxury car tax” which applies to cars over (I think) $57,000. Yet NZ’s system has become blunter as deductions were removed to the extent that most taxpayers now don’t even have to bother filing a return.

Yes, I know there are administrative overheads on anything other than a flat, universally applied value added tax. But without going crazy and arguing about “what is food, exactly?” as the Australians did with GST, there is still, it seems to me, ways to shift the burden from earnings to certain types of expenditure which would potentially have vastly better results for low income earners and encourage positive expenditure by higher income earners.

All i have seen here from the right wingers is that they dont need to worry about putting food on the table…so the people that do need to worry about it can get stuffed!!

Im a rich prick…….and vote Labour. Why? because Labour cared about ALL New Zealanders…yes even the ones with fuck all money. Nats want all kiwis to look after themselves….in other words if you cant pay you go without and that goes for Health care, education etc……..ummmm what is government there for again?????

Right wing policies like those of that thing GW BUSH do not work!!!! Hello!

Kerry – Government is as much about making it possible for individuals to pay as it is paying for them if they can’t. Part of getting us to a point where more people can pay for themselves is ensuring excessive redistribution doesn’t remove incentives and screw up the economy. National and Labour differ in their view about what the balance is. Chill out and use some of your rich prick money to invest in an economic education and see if you still want to post angry-moron style drivel.

The top 10% of taxpayers happen to pay 46% of income tax, yet absorb far less than 46%, or even 10%, of government services. Is that fair? Is it fair that the bottom 47% pay 9%, yet absorb far more than 47%, let alone 9%, of government services? says Tim Ellis.

Tane, I ask you to consider that 12% of taxpayers pay 51% of the tax take and then tell me that a plan where 40% of tax relief goes to 10% of taxpayers is unfair. says Gustavo Trevellis.

We live in a capitalist system built on private property rights and state-imposed and maintained markets. These private property rights and state-supported markets are entirely a social construction, and they lead to radically unfair outcomes, such as the inequalities of wealth that cause 10% of taxpayers to pay 46% of income tax.

If you want to play the “oh it’s so unfair that the rich pay all this tax” line then I suggest you question how the rich came to be so rich in the first place. It is because the far greater mass on low-middle incomes allow them the system of property rights and state-supported markets to amass this wealth. A progressive tax system is a small price to pay.

In the spirit of the season I think we should all bow our heads and give thanks to Camryn, Trellis et al – and especially Tim Ellis – for providing us with such a convincing new definition of “fairness”. Those of us so hopelessly brainwashed down the centuries by such losers as that paragon of deceit from Nazareth will welcome this illuminating revelation and immediately, I hope, dig deep and give till it hurts to any and all of our friends and acquaintances who are suffering the burden of paying higher taxes than our fortunate selves.

And doesn’t it warms our hearts to know that the Ellis turkey will be partitioned with scrupulous neo-fairness this season? Largest portions to the plumper family members who will gorge till ill and hoard the rest; those who toil at the most arduous and dangerous chores will cheerily gnaw on crusts; and any sick or infirm children will enjoy a subsistence platter of crumbs while the whole happy assembly joins hands and gives thanks for deliverance from the evil politics of envy.

I’m willing to hazard a guess that the 55,000 majority that the right got this time was made up mainly of resentful, avaricious, arrogant and self-centred people who want to get rich at the expense of anyone who stands in their way.

They heard a bunch of whistles from the Herald and reacted like dogs as in dog eat dog.

In fact the most productive enterprises in NZ are getting big tax breaks, R&D and export incentives. Tax cuts that undermine the source of those incentives are not in their interests. Nor is burying your head on global warming, or sacrificing the EMA.

The ones who have scrambled for their tax dollars back and voted John Key in are the grasping, greedy, unproductive individualists who have bought into the neo-liberal dream just when it is turning into a nightmare. Its like a pyramid scheme. Everybody is on a contract which relies on rent from some developers scheme. Now all of the crappy little self-justifications for their anti-social behaviour suddenly goes down the drain.

Except that we have a Prankster in charge, handing out bikes to kids, micromanaging stranded Kiwis in Thailand, and sucking up to Bush and Bachelet. Promising riches to the grasping. Its theatre of the absurd.

Tax cuts from JK are just a starter. What he would really like is to be minister of tourism to welcome all his rich mates to the little old Kiwi taxhaven downunder. By then the only jobs around for the rest of us will be the shit jobs.

rave before you go round calling others twats. Perhaps its you who needs to have a hard look at themselves. Your views and opinions you may well believe in but the majority of this country do not and will not. Your views on almost everything are supported by a very small minority and not Labour, National, Act, United Future, the Maori party and not even the Greens.

As for your conspiracy theories they’re unsubstantiated and have no relevancy to most people in this country.

My point in both cases was not the policies themselves, it was the cynical way The Herald was treating those pre election “promises” as election lines that didn’t need to be kept – in short as knowing lies.

Next, you ask me to defend National’s tax policy. I say again, it’s what the public voted for, in the expectation National would deliver it.

That’s just fine and dandy if you intend to hold National to all it’s pre election policy promises. Do you? Did you mean it when you said – “Amid all the shrieks and cries of broken promises in the past, why should National change a policy it clearly signaled before the election?” – or are you going to be selective in holding National to its promises?

“And doesn’t it warms our hearts to know that the Ellis turkey will be partitioned with scrupulous neo-fairness this season? Largest portions to the plumper family members who will gorge till ill and hoard the rest”

PS – I have to wonder about some of the supposed “rich” pricks who bitch and moan about the tax they pay…i for one have never ever worried about the amount of tax i pay…..and I cant imagine any decent person with a few dollers worrying about it either!!!

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Purposeful Renegade: As an economics student, not only was Kate Raworth (above) never told the ultimate purpose of economics, but also, she told Kathryn Ryan on RNZ's Nine To Noon, she and her fellow students were never encouraged to ask.KATE ...

Thousands of schoolkids around New Zealand have walked out of class today in a school strike for the climate. They're part of a global movement, sparked by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg, which is sacrificing a day of education to demand ...

Today, children are striking, and demanding of us, “If you won’t act like adults, we will.” Their letter says poignantly: Soon we will inherit the consequences of this inaction, and we are scared. Will we have a planet worth passing ...

Towards the end of the Soviet Union, intelligence analysts in the US began to focus more on its social geography and less on its military capabilities (which if formidable were not keeping pace with US technological advancements). This came about ...

Without Power: The Venezuelan Government is under no illusions concerning those responsible for the energy blackout currently afflicting its citizens. President Nicolas Maduro has declared his country to be the victim of a cyber-attack initiated and overseen by the US ...

The State Services Commission released its six-monthly OIA statistics yesterday, reporting basic information on volume and timeliness (but nothing on outcome or quality of response). But while the official press release crows about improved timeliness, there's a twist:As signalled late ...

Over the coming decades Auckland’s budding rapid transit network is expected to grow significantly, approximately tripling in size from what it is today. While a decent proportion of will be new and extended busways, new rail lines will also be ...

Still winter nights without rain clouds are usually followed by a frost. The clouds reflect back the heat coming off the earth maintaining higher ambient temperatures, thereby reducing the risk of frost.read more ...

A decade ago, the public fought a battle with Meridian Energy over the Mokihinui hydro scheme - a plan to build a dam on conservation land, flooding a scenic river gorge. Now the area has been protected forever by addign ...

Tax Working Group head, Michael Cullen, asserts that the capital gains tax (CGT) is best described as a “tax on capital income”. Since when have capital gains been income? Show me any country’s national income accounts that include them in ...

A couple of developments in the past week or so have cast a fresh light on a familiar question – should we be worried about the possibility that agents of foreign governments can buy influence in our politics and government? ...

Last year, the government announced that they would hold an inquiry into Operation Burnham, the SAS operation in which six Afghan civilians were killed, including a child. But now, it looks as if the "inquiry" is instead becoming a British-style ...

So, having rejected Theresa May's shit Brexit deal, UK MP's were told to vote until they got it right - and rejected it again. Which means that the UK is now just 16 days from Brexit and has no plan ...

This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bud Ward Wally Broecker, photographed around 2010 (Credit: Bruce Gilbert, via Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory) The climate science community has lost one of the real titans of its field. Geochemist Wallace Broecker – ...

. . A recent bold statement from current National Party leader, Simon Bridges, declared his intentions should a capital gains tax (CGT) be enacted; . . “…No ifs, no buts, no caveats, I will repeal this CGT as Prime Minister ...

In a Westminster-style, parliamentary democracy such as ours – and one that, despite MMP, remains essentially a two-party contest – it is inevitable that many of us will choose a side and then see nothing but good in our preferred ...

This is a guest post by Glenn Koorey from ViaStrada. Do you know how many fatal or injury road crashes there were in 2018? No, neither did I, until I looked it up. Turns out there were 11,433 injury crashes, ...

On its face, today's news that the Police have referred Jami-Lee Ross' now-five-month old allegations about Simon Bridges, the National Party and $100,000 in donations to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) looks like a very big deal.read more ...

by Daphna Whitmore The public have an opportunity to make submissions on gender identity being included in the Human Rights Act. The campaigning group Speak Up For Women are encouraging people to submit. The Ministry of Justice have opened ...

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The Governments of Australia and New Zealand have announced the membership of the Australia and New Zealand Electronic Invoicing Board (ANZEIB) today. This is an important step towards implementing e-Invoicing across both countries to help businesses save time and money ...

Workers who are paying too much tax because of incorrect secondary tax codes are in line for relief with the passage of legislation through Parliament late last night. The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2018-19, Modernising Tax Administration, and Remedial Matters) ...

Efforts to reverse the decline in the Chatham Islands pāua fishery are the focus of a new plan jointly agreed between government, the local community and industry. Fisheries Minister Stuart Nash says the plan was developed by the PauaMAC4 Industry ...

The Police will get stronger powers of search and seizure to crackdown on synthetic drugs under new legislation, which makes the two main synthetics (5F-ADB and AMB-FUBINACA) Class A drugs. The Government has today introduced the Misuse of Drugs Amendment ...

Further steps to combat tax evasion Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has announced New Zealand is expanding its global ability to combat tax evasion by joining forces with authorities in 30 countries and jurisdictions. Cabinet has agreed to add another ...

The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes the Government’s ban on assault rifles today. NZBA’s council member, Josh McBride, says that immediate changes to the underlying legislation are now required to ensure that all military specification ...

The New Zealand Bar Association welcomes the Government’s ban on assault rifles today. NZBA’s council member, Josh McBride, says that immediate changes to the underlying legislation are now required to ensure that all military specification ...

We are delighted for Helen Clark to become Patron of the new independent think tank with University of Auckland called “The Helen Clark Foundation.” The Helen Clark Foundation is a new organisation and needs your support to grow. Helen Clark ...

While last Friday’s terrorist attack in Christchurch was the first for New Zealand, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Australia and non-resident to New Zealand says his country has been victims of violence and terrorism for more than four decades. ...

"This will not be popular among some of our members but after a week of intense debate and careful consideration by our elected representatives and staff, we believe this is the only practicable solution," Feds Rural Security spokesperson Miles ...

That the accused was able to inflict so much harm in such a short time as a licensed firearm user with an easily modified semi-automatic rifle is deeply troubling and must be kept in mind as we discuss as a ...

A vigil has been organised by a coalition of community groups led by Muslims, tangata whenua and migrants standing in firm solidarity with Aotearoa’s Muslim community, following the violent white supremacist terrorist attack targeting two Christchurch ...

Auckland Council has turned topsy-turvy with its vote to approve a $63 million bailout for Eden Park, including a $10 million no-strings-attached grant, says the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance . Ratepayers’ Alliance spokesperson Jo Holmes says, “Councillors ...

After the deaths of fifty people who were in the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre at prayer on Friday, the Methodist church joins in the grief of those who bear these losses directly, and in the public grief ...

In the March edition of The Fringe Magazine Waitakere Ranges Local Board chairman Greg Presland has shared his views on the imminent lodging of the resource consent for the proposed new Huia Water Treatment Plant in Waima, Titirangi. “It is ...

Primary teachers and principals will now vote in online ballots about whether to accept the Ministry's latest collective agreement offers, following the cancellation of this week's paid union meetings. ...

In school, we all learnt the phrase, "Beware the Ides of March" courtesy of Shakespeare's play, Julius Caesar. The soothsayer's warning to Caesar was brushed aside and Caesar assassinated a little later in the day. For the last nearly 420 ...

A censorious and censoring attitude has engulfed responses to the mental airings of the Christchurch shooter. Material in connection with Brenton Tarrant, the alleged gunman behind the killing of 50 individuals at two mosques in New Zealand, is drying ...

The Chair of Skills Active Aotearoa, the ITO for sport, exercise, recreation and the performing arts, has described the one-week extension for submissions on the Reform of Vocational Education as “paltry”. ...

As people process the attack at two mosques in Christchurch, our Muslim whānau are hurting. But there is an outpouring of love and unity coming from across New Zealand and around the world. Thousands of people have shared messages of ...

The New Zealand Maori Council is calling on Maori from right across the nation to come out this Friday in a national show of support for the whanau and victims of last week’s terrorist attacks in Christchurch. ...

Secretary to the Treasury Gabriel Makhlouf spoke to the New Zealand India Trade Alliance in Auckland last evening on the New Zealand-India economic relationship and where the Treasury sees the opportunities and obstacles between the two countries. The ...

“The conversation New Zealand is now having regarding the use of military-style semi-automatic firearms (MSSA’s) is important and the Game Animal Council wishes to clarify several aspects in relation to their use for hunting game animals,” ...

As leaders of Abrahamic faith communities we come together to offer our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to all those who have been victimised and traumatised by this evil attack on our Muslim community in Christchurch. For all of us, ...

ACC wishes to clarify that the supports and entitlements available for family members of those killed in Friday’s terrorist attack in Christchurch is the same regardless of whether they live in New Zealand or overseas. A funeral grant, a survivor’s ...

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) extends its deepest sympathies to the victims of the massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand. We urge all the governments and the people of the world to support New Zealand’s efforts to deal with the ...

Vodafone, Spark, Vocus and 2degrees are warning all customers to be cautious of scammers looking to take advantage of Kiwi generosity and benefit from the Christchurch terror attack through fraudulent donations. ...

Fifty people died in the shooting and 31 people remain in hospital. Writing on RNZ , Anjum Rahman from the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand detailed repeated attempts to lobby Government to stem discrimination against their community. ...

The National Church Leaders gathered in Wellington today (Tuesday 19th March 2019) to express their profound horror at the terrible violence towards Muslim people in Christchurch mosques last Friday. We are deeply saddened by these tragic events and ...

An Australian security expert says if New Zealand had stronger guns laws, Friday’s attack would not have been as devastating as it was. Director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Border Security Programme, Dr John Coyne, says, “had the New ...

Solidarity for NZ: Trade unions around the world send messages The Public Service Association (PSA) has collated messages it has received from trade unions around the world, sending their condolences and solidarity in response to the Christchurch ...

Due to the tragic acts of violence against the Muslim community in Christchurch last Friday, the “Pacific People Say NO to the End Of Life Choice Bill” at Parliament scheduled for tomorrow Tuesday 19 March has been postponed. ...

The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) welcomes the inquiry into the Christchurch terrorist attacks. “The Christchurch terrorist attacks are a horrific demonstration of violent extremism which has no place in New Zealand. NZSIS offers ...

“The attacks on Friday were an abhorrent challenge to everything that New Zealand holds dear. GCSB’s thoughts are with the families, friends and communities of the victims at this time,” said Andrew Hampton, Director-General of GCSB. ...

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of New Zealand, in condemning the recent massacre of innocent Muslims, calls on the people of Aotearoa to examine the destructive social forces that led to Friday's tragedy. “We extend our heartfelt ...

On behalf of all Grey Power Members and Associations I would like to extend our condolences and deepest sympathy’s to the victims and their families of the horrendous attacks that occurred in Christchurch this week. As New Zealanders we stand ...

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Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Bi-partisan changes to gun laws announced, immigration minister urged to step in on visas of attack victim families, and stats lay bare Islamophobia in media.The first major law change since the ...

The former NZ PM says the global policy boss for the online behemoth has contacted her saying he wants to visit NZ, following an angry backlash against the platform over its livestream of a mass terrorist murder at a Christchurch ...

The Christchurch Mosque Shootings saw journalists scrambling the country over to cover the unfolding horror. New Zealand’s subreddit experienced an unprecedented rush too, swamping the volunteer moderators and exposing them to some of the worst reactions on Reddit. We speak ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra With the election likely to be called in about a fortnight – the weekend after the April 2 budget – behind the scenes Labor is ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Don Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin University The future management of New South Wales’s national parks is one of the issues on the line in Saturday’s state election. Other states will ...

KiwiSaver fund manager Milford Asset Management dumped its shareholdings in social media giant Facebook on Monday and joined the call from government-backed retirement fund managers for Facebook, Google and Twitter to take greater care monitoring content posted to social media ...

Farmers and investors will need to be patient with Fonterra Cooperative Group's overhaul of its business, which sometime-critic First NZ Capital analyst Arie Dekker says is moving in the right direction. ...

Armed police bedecked with flowers amid heightened national security following the Christchurch mosque attacks last Friday. Traditionazlly, New Zealand police are unarmed. Image: Sulzy/Twitter By RNZ News Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern today announced a New Zealand ban on all ...

The government’s language so far is imprecise and it must word its ban carefully to stand up against a ferocious lobby from pro-gun groups.New Zealand lawmakers will need to write the law banning semi-automatic weapons so that it can’t be ...

Twenty years ago – before Instagram – a game about documenting your every move was released. That game was Pokémon Snap.The year was 1999. Hilary Swank was playing Brandon Teena, something that would now absolutely not be allowed. Troye Sivan was basically a fetus, ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dodd, Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne When Judge Peter Kidd sentenced Cardinal George Pell last week, it was broadcast live on radio and television. It was ...

To mark the launch of the Helen Clark Foundation’s first report, its executive director Katherine Errington writes about New Zealand’s potential to become a ‘green’ hydrogen exporter.Much has been written about hydrogen of late, debating its place in the transition ...

Literal fake news is fuelling attempts to divide New Zealand’s religious communities, writes Aaron Hendry, an Auckland youth worker and Christian.In the wake of Friday’s horrific attack there is no doubt that New Zealand has changed. But perhaps one of ...

Political Roundup: Playing the Christchurch terrorism blame-game is dangerous by Dr Bryce Edwards Dr Bryce Edwards.Jacinda Ardern has led the way in how she’s responded to the Christchurch terrorist atrocity. The prime minister has emphasised the need to come ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jane Kotzmann, Lecturer in Law, Deakin University Your lipstick and foundation will be less likely to come at the expense of animal welfare, thanks to Commonwealth legislation that passed in recent weeks. ...

PGG Wrightson’s largest shareholder Alan Lai and his company Agria have been fined $220,000 and ordered to pay another $30,000 in costs by the High Court for breaching good character conditions imposed by the Overseas Investment Office. ...

The fifth work in Yona Lee’s In Transit series is currently exhibiting at Wellington’s City Gallery. Megan Dunn writes on the aspirations of the piece and how comfortably it sits in a gallery context.On a Sunday afternoon I opened my laptop and ...

New Zealand’s economy grew less than the central bank expected in the fourth quarter but economists don't expect the data to spur any change in the Reserve Bank's message at next week's policy review. ...

The sudden closure of Wellington’s Central Library was a shock to residents in the capital. Gem Wilder reflects on her love for the library and her hopes for its future.I received the news via the Wellington City Council twitter account, ...

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Rassell, Nanoartist and creative-practice based researcher in Media, RMIT University As an experimental video-maker working at scales smaller than molecules, I surround myself in a variety of scientific visualisations. In reading ...

How dare our national airline continue to brand itself with Indigenous symbols while rejecting employees who wear those same symbols on their bodies, writes Leonie Pihama.As I sit at a conference on the island of Maui, I see tā moko ...

The removal of extremist content alone isn’t going to solve the problem of right-wing terrorism. Instead, we need to harness new technology to find such individuals early and intervene.Last week, 50 lives in Christchurch were lost in another act of ...

The PM has confirmed an inquiry will be held into the circumstances leading up to the Christchurch terrorist attacks. Alex Braae asks they will have to look into.In the wake of the terrorist attack in Christchurch, questions are being raised ...

Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – March 21 2019Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.Today’s contentChristchurch mosque shootings ...

The pending announcement of the Sunwolves’ exit from Super Rugby points to a collective agreement from the SANZAAR unions that the Nations Championship is the future. However, trickle-down economics may be a hard sell for their constituents. The dollars are ...

This Race Relations Day, we call on all New Zealanders to take time out of their day to reflect. To stand united in mourning with victims of Christchurch, write Pancha Narayanan president of Multicultural New Zealand, and Paul Hunt, the chief ...